Help on type and sex of peachicks

[Roseheart16]

Hello, I am new to peafowl. I currently have three, one a little over ten weeks old and two that I believe are around eight weeks old. I am pretty sure my ten week old is a male but I'm not quite certain on the other two.
All three of them are said to be india blues but one looks a bit different and I was wondering if it is maybe a black shouldered male peachick.
These pictures aren't that great but I hope they work.

that is my ten week old that I believe is a male IB. His? Crown feathers have also been plucked out but I am told they will grow back in a couple of weeks.

this is peachick #2 the one I am unsure about gender and breed.

Here is another of peachick #2

I am also worried about this one a bit because you can see its skin in some places and it kind of looks ruffled up compared to my ten week old. Is this normal and just it molting or something I should be worried about? It also doesn't like to be handled and will do all that it can to avoid being handled. Today it has jumped away every time it was touched or almost touched. Could this be because of the bare skin spots, the way I am approaching it or does it just simply not like being handled?

Unfortunately, I do not currently have any pictures of the third peachick but I will post one or two soon and maybe some more pictures of the other two if needed.
Thanks!!


Oh, also, what type of treats do they like? I have tried things like meal worms, grapes, lettuce, greens and some other things that I feed to my guineas as well but they haven't seen too thrilled about any of the things I gave them so far.

 

[JardinChinois]

Hello There.

Perhaps I can be of some help here. Your peafowl are definitely India Blue, and not Black Shouldered. Baby B/S are a yellowish with pink (think baby deer) wing feathers. Later they will be mottled white with dark brownish-black, larger mixed areas for the males, and a more evenly mottled look for the females. Late in the fall the males should get a green neck and during the spring of the next year it will become greenish-blue, turning to true blue later in the year. During this time those white feathers will gradually fall out and be replaced by the same colors as the India Blue, the only real difference in the males being the wings without the brown barring. The females will always have that mottled white/browish appearance, with just a very few greenish feathers scattered on their necks.

As for treats, mine were never particularly fond of much of anything except from the bread group .... bread, rolls, biscuits, cake, and their favorite, cornbread. I never tried to get them to have favorites as young birds anyway, as early on it is easy for them to become spoiled brats and want nothing but that certain food, and reject their normal healthy food. So, my advice is save the treats for when they are adults.

As for being handled, peafowl are social creatures, but they do not wish to be handled. No matter how much they may love you, they dont want to be touched. I have one peafowl now that I have had now for over 25 years. He adores me, and most other people, and he will do anything to be near people (he is free range on 100+ acres). But he absolutely does NOT want to be touched.

I dont recall that I have ever seen a peafowl that wished to be touched or petted, not matter how fond of you it is.

 

[new 2 pfowl]

Well, I know there are a few (rare) exceptions to the "do not like to be touched" attitude...
For example, MinxFox's sweet boy Peep:





(Hope you don't mind my reposting your photos, MinxFox)

 

[casportpony]

My P-Dawg is like Peeps.

-Kathy

 

[Roseheart16]

thanks so much! All three of my peachicks have quite a few greenish feathers on their neck (especailly my 10 week old).

I think I will wait to give them treats as well, thank you for the advice

Also, I figured none would be too fond of being held or touched. That one just seemed more reluctant to being held or touched than my other two and I wanted to make sure it wasn't due to a disease or something. My ten week old also doesn't seem to mind being held or touched most of the time so I may have just been too used to being able to touch him and a little worried when the other one went panicky when I got close.

Thanks!

 

[Roseheart16]

Sorry for the bad puctures but could any of you help me determine my peachicks gender? I'm hoping for at least one of them to be a peachick but i'll be happy either way
Here's a few pictures of peachick #1 my ten week old Rex. I believe this one is a boy

Here's peachick #2. I think he/she is about 8 weeks old but not too certain on the gender. This one is the that does everything to avoid being touched and doesn't like it when I get close so I had a bit of a hassle getting good pictures

Here's peachick #3 I am pretty sure this one is a male and (s)he is the same age as peachick #2

This is one of Rex and peachick #3 (yuri)

 

[zazouse]

All i see is pretty peacocks no peahens

Is that the pen you keep them in? do you have dogs watching out for wild critters? reason i asked is coons can get birds in just chain link by pulling them threw the fence, and if that is a dog kennel like tractor supply carries i know a good size coon can bend that wire enough to get inside because i have had young dogs tear a pannel up.
I just wanted to mention this stuff in case ya didn't already know.. we do love our peas here and hate to hear that they were killed or hurt.
BOY

GIRL

 

[Roseheart16]

Thank you im glad to finally know whay they all are and yes, I do have dogs. I also lock them up in a chicken box at night because we have all types of predators around here. We're also going to build an enclosed area and connect it to the pen they're in now because I know they'll quickly out grow their box.

 

[Roseheart16]

Hi, I have another question, I am considering getting a hen next year, will It be okay just having one with three peacocks or will i need one per peacock? And will I have problems if I don't get a hen at all?